Nan and travel sickness remedies. Part III.

Occasionally while staying in Ramsgate we would take a trip to France (Boulogne or Calais - I can't remember which).  My other vehicle of choice for travel sickness was the ferry - something much smaller than the car ferries around now. 

Neither newspaper nor pennies would do for mal de mer.  Nan's first anti-nausea strategy at sea would be for us to sit on the open deck. I would then be instructed to look at the disappearing landscape;  unfortunately my extreme short-sightedness had not yet been diagnosed  - so horizon-spotting did not have the desired effect.  By the time land disappeared we'd have blue lips and bloodless extremities; Nan would sigh and reluctantly say: 'We'll just have to go downstairs - nothing else for it!'

So down below deck into the smokey bar.  Nan would order a medicinal brandy  (generally a double) and I would have a fizzy drink.  If the fizzy drink failed to still my churning stomach I would be given sips of brandy.  It would be true to say that I have rather hazy memories of our French day trips.

Nan and travel sickness remedies. Part II

If the newspaper method had failed on the way down to Ramsgate, the famous penny cure would be used on the way home.  I would be given two old pennies (big ones, pre-1971 - preserved especially by Nan for this purpose) to hold, one in each hand.  After about ten miles my hot and sweaty hands would interact with whatever metal the pennies were made from to produce a truly vomit-inducing smell.  I've just tried to replicate this with a 2p, but the smell is much more subtle.